Monday, November 21, 2005

THE PAINT STORE

This is a story a friend told me:When he first moved to Arlington with his wife and small children he worked at a paint store while attending college. (He told me the name of the paint store, but I have forgotten) and, as is customary in paint stores, there were several professional house painters who bought all their paint and supplies at this particular store and in return, the proprietor would often recommend these painters to his customers. As a result, there were painters who spent a lot of time hanging around this paint store.

One of these painters was, besides being an alcoholic, a very peculiar kind of guy. Some people even thought he was crazy. He lived in Arlington, alone, in a small house outside the city limits, which was at that time considered to be "out in the country." He often talked about being visited by beings from other planets and strange futuristic technology that they had showed him and space ships and the like. My business associate said most people paid very little attention to him and generally just thought he was weird, and this included everyone who worked at the paint store. He said that although he did not believe all the stories about aliens and space ships, he did feel a bit sorry for the guy and would at times defend him when others ridiculed him. And, as you may have guessed, this strange painter took a liking to my business associate.

At some point, the painter began to talk about his leaving this earth to go to live on another planet (He even named the planet, but my business associate couldn't remember the name) with the beings from this planet who visited him so frequently and showed him all their strange machines. The painter told my business associate that he had no family and that before he left this earth to go and live on another planet, he wanted to deed his house and land to my business associate. My business associate told him (with tongue in cheek) that "sure," before he left for outer space he could deed his house to him.

At some point, in deed, the painter transferred his house, and land and all his assets to my business associate. And, within a matter of days from doing so, the painter called him and told him to come to a certain field on his property at a certain time that very evening. He told him that he would be leaving this earth with the men from outer space tonight, never to return, and that my business associate would be able to see him leave on the space ship if he would be at the field at the appointed time.

My business associate told me that he thought the guy had really flipped, and that perhaps he had had a mental breakdown of some sort. He said he debated about whether he should go to the field at the appointed time or not, but decided that he would go because the poor guy might need help or something.

My business associate said that he drove up to the man's property, parked his car, walked to the particular field that the painter had specified. (He did not say whether he looked for the man at the house first, or not.) his particular field must have had berms or something surrounding it, because he said that as he approached, he could see a strange kind of green mist-like light coming from behind the rise of earth ahead of him. He said that when he reached the (berm) or levee or whatever, he looked over it and saw a saucer shaped craft of some kind hovering just a couple of feet or so above the ground and glowing green. He watched for a while and then the painter came out from somewhere, perhaps another berm, looked over at him, and acknowledged his presence in some way (I think he may have waved at him or he may have even spoken, I cannot remember). Then he said an opening appeared in this saucer thing and the painter entered. Then the thing shot straight up in the air and in a matter of only seconds was a bright dot that just disappeared.

My business associate told me that he never heard from the man again, to this day. He told me that after a while, when he realized the painter was really not coming back, he and his wife and children moved into the house that the painter had deeded to him. He told me that they did not stay very long. He said, "You wouldn't believe all the strange, eerie things that went on in that house." He added that some of the technology (having to do with computers and nanotechnology) that exists today are things that the painter had told them about that seemed so far-fetched at that time.

Well, that is his story. I would love to ask him more about it, but have not found the right opportunity. I have seen him once since he told me his story, but he was very busy, so I did not ask. He is a very no-nonsense kind of person, which makes me believe his story all the more.